A sad day on the farm

One of the large, non-sick chickens has been acting drunk. She started stumbling around yesterday, but was still able to walk. This morning, I found her draped over the roosting pallet like she had literally passed out. I picked her up and she was unable to hold her head up. I tried to get her to drink but she couldn't seem to swallow. I put her in a sunny spot in the grass and went to work, believing she would be dead by lunch.

I came home at lunch and she was not dead. She hadn't moved at all, but was still breathing. I picked her up and she had no control of her muscles. Her head flopped around. I tried again to get her to drink by dunking her head in the waterer. Still wouldn't swallow. She was also really really hot. I carried her around and thought about it. She was completely unable to move except for her eyelids. I decided it would be the kindest thing to end her suffering before she died of dehydration. It was the first time I'd killed one of them myself without help from Roger. I walked out to the back of the field with her and sat down with her. I sat beside her for a long time before I got up the nerve... I really wanted to just leave her and let her die... but she was counting on me to put my own squeamishness aside and help her. I'll spare you the details, but I did the right thing and she's gone.

I've done a lot of reading trying to figure out what it was. I believe it was botulism from some moldy corn from the garden I fed them. She must have been a hog and eaten way more than the rest of them. A link to the Merck Vet Manual and botulism symptoms is here:

http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/205400.htm

Interestingly, before it was called botulism it was called limp-neck. Which was definitely the predominant symptom she had.